The family recipe

Years ago we videotaped my grandfather telling stories about the family.  The thought was that we would have these stories to pass down to the next generations so they wouldn't be forgotten.  We keep saying we will do this with every elder, but it hasn't been something we have adhered to.  Keeping that in mind, while I was sitting with my Aunt Lorene at our reunion this year, I asked her to tell us how to make her famous chicken noodles.  She was unable to make them this year due to being wheelchair bound.  I told her that perhaps she should let Susan and me know how to make them so that we could carry on her tradition just in case....

I'm not sure, but I think she slightly hesitated.

Lorene:  Well, there is nothing to it.  I take eggs and flour...
Me:  How many eggs?
Lorene:  Well, that depends.  I take them and...
Me:  Hold on Aunt Lorene, let me get this down so that I can remember.
Lorene:  Well, there isn't much to remember honey.  I take eggs and some flour...
Me:  Wait, wait.  How much flour?
Lorene:  Well, that depends.
Me:  Well, how many eggs?
Lorene:  Well, that depends.
Susan:  On what?
Lorene:  On how many yellow eggs Kathy gives me.
Me:  Huh?  Yellow eggs?
Susan:  You mean yolks?
Lorene:  Uh huh, the yellow parts.
Me:  Okay, wait.  So you don't use eggs?  You use yolks?
Lorene:  That depends.
Me:  Oh, lordy.
Susan:  I don't think she wants to tell us her recipe.
Lorene:  Well, there's nothing to it honey.  I take eggs and flour.
Me:  Aunt Lorene, please.  I am not a cook, and maybe that is the reason why you don't want to give your recipe to me, but I have to have things in increments.  Am I using eggs or yolks?  And how many?
Lorene:  Well, that depends.
Me:  ON WHAT?
Lorene:  On how many people you're cooking for.
Susan:  Okay, let's say we are cooking for twenty people.
Me:  Twenty people?  When do we cook for twenty people?
Susan:  Let's just pretend.
Me:  Okay, okay, twenty people.
Lorene:  Oh, well, you would need a whole carton of eggs.
Me:  Eggs?  Or yolks?
Lorene:  Well, that depends.
Me:  Aunt Lorene, I'm so confused.  Why don't I use the whole egg?
Lorene:  I'm not sure why you aren't using the whole egg.  You can.
Me:  But you use the yolks.
Lorene:  I do if Kathy gives me some.
Me:  What if she doesn't give you yolks?
Lorene:  Well, see she doesn't use the yolks when she cooks.  She saves them for me.  If she doesn't have any then I use the whole egg.
Me:  Oh!  Oh, okay.  So I use a carton of eggs and how much flour.
Lorene:  As much as you need.
Me:  ?
Lorene:  And I mix that up...
Me:  With your hands?
Lorene:  Oh, sure.
Susan:  You wash them first though, right?  No, I'm kidding.
Lorene:  You mix that up and then you cut the noodles.
Susan:  Do you have a mold?
Lorene:  Oh, no I don't have a mold.
Susan:  Well, how do we cut them.
Lorene:  That depends.
Me:  How do YOU cut them, Aunt Lorene?
Lorene:  Oh, well I just roll the dough into a big roll and cut them in strips
Susan:  Do you dry them out then?
Lorene:  I do.  I dry them out and then...
Susan:  How long would you say you dry them out?
Lorene:  Oh, overnight.
Susan:  Where do you dry them out?  On your counter top?
Lorene:  Oh, no hon, I have a sheet.
Me:  A sheet?  A drying sheet?
Susan:  You mean to cover them?
Lorene:  No, no.  I have a sheet that I spread across my bed and dry them out that way.
Me:  Huh?  You put a sheet over your bed and then put the noodles on your bed?  Overnight?
Lorene:  Oh, sure.
Me:  Never mind, Aunt Lorene.  I think only you can make these noodles.  So get to exercising that leg and hip so that we can have noodles next year, because Susan and I do not have the right equipment to take over a job this big!
Lorene:  Oh, honey, there is nothing to it.
Me:  Huh!  That depends.

South Bend Chocolate Factory Tour

Two years ago we discussed going to the South Bend Chocolate Factory to take a tour, but we ran out of time.  Today's weather was cloudy and rainy and so we headed into downtown South Bend to do the tourist bit.  Of course, without me, the Mason clan has not toured this factory before and thus it was a new experience for all of us.

There are two tours; one is free and the other is $4 for adults and $1 for children under 12.  I had researched this tour and decided we would take the one that cost money as we were promised chocolate spoons and a goodie bag.  We signed up and received our golden tickets.

We had time before the tour started to head into the chocolate museum which told the history of chocolate and housed some of the world's oldest chocolate boxes, tins, and molds.  It was a small one room museum where most of the antiques were not behind glass, which made me nervous especially viewing the chocolate pots.

It was very informative.  We learned that Chicago was the candy capitol of the world, something we poo-pooed until we finished reading the reasons why this was so.  Chicago's windy city is a temperature dream in the candy making business as is its Midwest location where fresh candy making ingredients are homegrown such as milk and corn syrup.  It was also in the 1800's an easy shipping mecca for transporting the candy worldwide and it was home to many immigrants that brought with them a hard work ethic.

We got to see many of the original tins, wooden boxes, and molds that the were used back in the day.  The museum houses the largest heart shaped candy box holding 100 lbs. of chocolate.  We learned that Indiana has 22 different candy companies in the state with South Bend and Indianapolis having the most.  Evansville has, of course, Lib's candy.

Our tour began in the foyer of the factory where our guide, Chris, studying to be a dentist, took us through the making of chocolate.  There is a tree with lots of cacao bean pods growing on its branches and trunk.  One cuts these pods off with huge machetes.  We got to hold a replica of the pod which is very large and quite heavy.  I couldn't imagine having to carry a basket of those pods for any distance.  Once the pods are recovered, one cuts the bean open with procession.  Inside are 20 to 50 cacao beans that are picked out of the pod, fermented and dried.  After the drying process the shells are opened by hand and the tiny bean is extracted.  These beans are then smashed and ground and sent to large companies that turn it into chocolate.  South Bend is a company that adds some delicious ingredients to already made chocolate and molds them into cute shapes.

Our tour moved inside the factory, after we put on hair nets, where we got to watch the employees hard at work.  Employees actually still do things by hand such as these women who were putting out large pretzels to be covered by white chocolate.  The pretzels passed through the machine where they were covered in chocolate and then two women at the end took the pretzels out of the cooling machine and loaded them by hand into boxes.

At this point in the tour we were all given samples to eat.  Our group chose different varieties.  I had the dark chocolate coconut.  Susan had a milk chocolate covered peanut.  Darcy had an orange truffle.  Gabby had the white chocolate pretzel, and Madison had a milk chocolate creme filled.  Chris was very happy that we had one of each variety.

Next on the tour we were taken to the part of the factory where the boxing and wrapping occurs.  Again a lot of the work, such as putting the lids on the cellophane wrapped boxes, was done by humans.  A human loaded the boxes on to the conveyor belt, a machine attached the cellophane, and a human removed the boxes and applied the lids.  I thought perhaps this might be an interesting summer job.

We moved from the wrapping room out into the cafe area where we got to see the different molds that the company uses.  They supply specialty chocolates to many of the local companies, such as Notre Dame University and several banks.  At this time, those who had not coughed up the money for the golden ticket where excused, and the rest of us moved to a chocolate making area.  We were given golden spoons and a vat of chocolate, where we dipped our spoons and made a delicious treat.  These were then put into a freezer to cool while we continued on the tour.

Which consisted of a ten minute movie narrated by Senor Koko Bean, a comedian.  He did the warm-up act, which was very funny.  He gave us ten facts about chocolate like, a box of chocolates gives you your daily calorie intake and without chocolate being consumed in large quantities there would be no need for control top pantyhose.  The movie was short and sweet and then we were given our golden chocolate spoons.  I am a Hershey girl, but I was pleasantly surprised at the taste of the pure chocolate.

One of the last things we got to view was a solid chocolate 45 pound Santa Claus and 35 pound Easter Bunny, mainly sold to large companies for parties or giveaways.  Cost for these two delicacies?  $500 for Santa and $450 for the Bunny.  Susan said we would take two Santa's, but I don't think Chris thought we were serious.

We took off our hair nets, and Chris gave us each a bag of chocolates.  Our group came away with dark chocolate covered raisins, milk chocolate malted balls, and peanut and chocolate malted balls.   We then spent some time in the gift shop where we might have made some purchases, but I'm so sick of chocolate right now I can't think straight.

5 activities done while vacationing

1.  Eating - As previously posted this has been our number one activity.  I shall not lie...the whole thing is exhausting me and killing my figure.  I have only had one home cooked meal since arriving in this state, not including the delicious home cooked yummies from the reunion.  While staying in Evansville with my friend, Robin, her excuse was that it was too hot to turn on her stove or oven.  Susan's excuse is she is on vacation and she is already naming all the restaurants she needs to visit while in Florida next week. (Seriously, while blogging this Susan entered the room and wanted to know if I wanted to visit the Amish restaurant sometime)

2.  Cruising - A term used in my younger days when one drove certain areas to see and be seen.  In this context it means to travel places once traveled back in one's youth or to drive around to see an area.  Using the handy dandy Iphone GPS we have cruised quite a few towns from Dugger and Sullivan to Evansville.  Oh, the sites we have seen.

3.  Blueberry Picking - This was something I introduced two years ago while visiting Susan, and it is now a summer staple for her and the Gabs.  We headed out on a hot day during the hottest time of the day, but we caught a few breezes while out in the field.  We were assigned the spartan blueberry trees which were full of ripe, plumb delicious berries, and we picked until our bucket was full.  Now we just have to come up with some recipes to finish them off.

4.  Tour of Notre Dame University - This was a suggestion by my husband, and one I was interested in.  I researched and found us a free 90 minute 2 mile walking tour of the campus led by Troy, a red headed sophomore.  He walked us from one end of the campus to the other where we saw the the Basilica of the Sacred Heart, the Golden Dome, the Grotto, the Stadium, and Touchdown Jesus.  Ended in the bookstore where I didn't find any Pittsburgh Steelers goodies.

5.  TV/Movie Viewing - In Evansville my TV viewing was limited to hundreds of channels of infomercials on Direct TV.  Apparently when Robin's great deal with Direct TV ended she refused to pay their new fee and thus most of her channels were removed.  We watched bra infomercials, diet infomercials, exercise infomercials, etc.  She was a GMA watcher so every morning we had coffee with that crew while my sister-in-law is a Today Show viewer and we enjoy our coffee with that crew.  We saw the new Kevin James movie, Zookeeper, and rented two movies, Limitless & Lincoln Lawyer.  Most TV viewing in the evening in South Bend is controlled by my brother who is an avid channel surfer and by the end of the night my head is spinning.  When he retires for the night Madison and I enjoy Drew Carey's Improv show from Vegas or Whose Line Is It Anyway?

Guest Blogger...

My sister in law has been in my home for a little vacation and checking in on her blog every once in awhile... SO... she forgot to log out ... now I can post anything I want on HER blog...

I'm short on time while she is showering so I will just say... I am really enjoying her and her girls... and I can't wait to head back to Florida with them to create many more memories!!!

Oh how I wish I had more time to tell you all about the crazy things Miss Cara has done on this trip.... maybe she will forget to log out again....

until next time,

her favorite sister in law!!!!!!

Restaurants visited while vacationing

1. Hacienda - This restaurant originated in The Souh Bend area, but it is also in my home town. It isn't my favorite Mexican food, but the margaritas and guacamole are good enough to get me in the door. The salsa is more like a tomato purée, and the food is too dry for my taste. I'm a saucy girl. But I'm also willing to try something else if I should happen to go again.

2. Jimmy John's - We have one of these in Florida, but being Firehouse Sub girls we haven't tried it. The sandwiches are of good size, I couldn't finish mine, but they are served cold and pickles cost extra or are offered in place of a bag of chips.

3. Urban Swirl - This frozen yogurt shop just moved into Florida territory, but I have only read about it. They have different flavors with different calorie intakes for those watching that stuff (not while on vacation). I had the root beer yogurt, a specialty flavor that day, and it was absolutely delicious. They have all sorts of toppings you can add, but you have to be careful as the price is based on weight.

4. TGI Fridays - Susan had their skinny margarita and loved it. I thought it was nasty, but then I'm not drinking or eating artificial sweeteners.

5. Outback Steakhouse - This was a last minute meeting after the reunion and no one was hungry, but we weren't ready for the night to end. We had appetizers and salads.

6. Cheeseburger in Paradise - A very Floridian decorated place without the sand. Yummy sangria. Delicious loaded burgers and skinny fries.

7. Apple Dumplin' Inn - Menu only had what the chef was preparing for the day. Our selections were chicken salad sandwich, BBQ pork sandwich, biscuits and apple butter,real homemade Mac and cheese.

8. Donut Bank - I don't know how they do it, but you won't find a better donut then this place. The smell of the place is out of this world and the donuts practically melt in your mouth. I pigged out on these daily from Tuesday to Sunday. Hope that holds me for a year.

9. G.D. Ritzy's - Very similar to Steak n Shake, but with better burgers and fries. Darcy loves this place and ate there three times. She's a vanilla coke girl and no one makes it better then Ritzy's.

10. Log Inn - Abraham Lincoln dined here in 1844 and the original log cabin was uncovered years later and is now the centerpiece of the restaurant. It is family style with choices of fried chicken, ham, or roast beef. This comes with bowls of mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans, coleslaw, corn, peas, and rolls. All hot and delicious with some sweet tea!

11. Pizza Oven - an Evansville hide-away on the north side of town. Opens at 4:00 and is carry out on a cardboard plate wrapped in paper. Rip off the paper and the smell of peppercinis hits you as they are a staple thrown on top of the middle of the pizza. Baked in a magic oven with fresh ingredients, you won't find better thinner pizza anywhere in the world.

12. Rafferty's - This was a yummy restaurant with a wide variety on the menu. Our large group, seated at two tables, ordered a range of tasty treats from specialty salads to prime rib.  Plus they were offering $1.95 margaritas....without alcohol...they don't fool me.

13. Granite City & Brewery - This was a lunch visit so I didn't try one of their many varieties of home brewed beer, although the cheese in my soup was made with some of their beer.  Wasn't a huge fan of that soup, but Susan's buffalo chicken wrap was delicious.

14.  Corndance Tavern - This was a fairly new restaurant in town and one that my brother and family had not tried yet.  It took some time to get our table, despite a 10-15 minute wait promise, but when we were seated our waitress was quite attentive.  The tavern is a more upscale place then any of our other places with a smaller menu for spring & summer.  The owners raise their own buffalo and use that for a lot of their meals. The appetizers were interesting, the entrees beautifully displayed, and for the most part we enjoyed all that we tried.

Pictures of the trip thus far

Saw this and thought of my days as a lifeguard.  Except I wasn't a blonde.

Susan showing us her modeling gig at Charming Charles

The purse I want.

Gabby doing her modeling.

The corn hole champs!

The ladder leading to the loft in the barn

Susan doing her Kelly impression

Family!

Indiana canteloupe!

Donut Bank for lunch

The wolf at the zoo...nah, its Timber, my friend's dog

Family reunion

Maddy - "It was very fun. My favorite thing was going on the hay ride, but we didn't know when we were going to get back, and it was hot and Darcy kept poking me. It was fun to see everything like the trees and pond and talking to everyone on the ride. I talked to Little Scott and Val and didn't know them until they reminded me about visiting us in Florida. Darrell kept pulling off the road and driving through the fields and everyone would freak out, but I think he did it to be funny. The pee limit was 25 on the road. Someone had scratched off the "s" and the "d". Darcy saw a sign up ahead and said it probably said, "no soliciting", and I said, "Really Darcy? Where would anyone solicit out here in the middle of the lakes and trees?" When we got closer it said, "dog running area, no hunting".

I liked going to the movie with Sheilah and her sister. They were really nice and talked to me. Aunt Lorene kept asking me how I was and how I enjoyed the food. She would also tell me her hip bothered her, and then later she would ask me this over and over, which I thought was funny."

Gabby - "My favorite thing about the reunion was being able to see Aunt Lorene and playing corn hole with all my cousins. The best corn hole player was Jason. Oh, and Big Scott. Darrell was the most interesting person to talk to. He asked about me and my life in school. I didn't really have a serious convo with anybody, but he asked the most personal questions.

I love Big Scott because he is always hugging you, and he is very loving. Aunt Lorene looked very well for her age because I've seen old people like on the street and in the nursing home who don't look as good as her.  I felt sad she was in a nursing home.  I was glad to go to the reunion so I could see everyone I love. 

The bugs weren't bad, and I didn't mind the heat because I would trade that over the bugs.  I loved going down to the pond and making an attempt to fish, and even though I didn't catch any fish I still think it's a great memory I'll have."

Darcy - "My favorite thing was probably seeing family and Aunt Lorene healthy and able to be there.  I liked talking to Darrell and Big Scott.  My favorite relatives are Darrell and Ryan (Ginger).  Gabby kept calling him Ronnie, and I told her he was a Ginger.  He didn't know what that was so I filled him in.  We called his girlfriend, The Girl, and she called us Nancy and Marge.  Her name was Tami.  Ryan was funny and whenever he would miss he would start to curse, and Gabby would "cha-ching" him.  Finally he said, "screw it" and he wasn't paying anything and then he just cursed the rest of the time.  I asked him and The Girl if they were planning on getting married, and she just burst out laughing. 

Darrell is funny and he treats you like...well he jokes around and messes with you, and he is funny.  I also liked Jenna because she likes to joke a lot about you and she gives lots of hugs, and she always sits down and talks to me.  I talked to Aunt Lorene, and when she cried I felt so bad for her.  It made me miss her, and I was sad I don't come down to see her more."

Susan - "My favorite thing was seeing Lorene.  She looked very good for a 96 year old woman.  I hope to live to see 96, but I'd have to take Shaklee.  I liked reconnecting with relatives.  Lack of communication in that famil surprised me.  We didn't even know Lorene had fallen and gotten hurt.  I was glad Austin made the effort to come to the reunion.  I was glad to see that as a young man family is important to him.  It was hot, and I wish they had it indoors....and I don't mean in the farmhouse....somewhere air conditioned and bug free."

Cara - "My favorite thing is all the good eating!  My relatives know how to cook.  It was taking a tad too long for grace to be said and the eating to start so I just took a fork and started sampling everything.  And Mike's corn...oh, my god, Mike's corn is to die for.  That corn literally melted in my mouth when I bit into it.  There wasn't any canteloupe so I just got more corn.  Lorene couldn't make her homemade noodles this year, but she did sort of give us the recipe, which I will certainly blog about. 

I didn't think the reunion lasted long this year.  It seemed like people left sooner.  I wanted to sit back and talk to people I only see once in a while, but the heat and other obligations drive people off.  It is interesting to see how everyone has changed through the year.  I can remember being the youngest, and now I'm one of those relatives the younger kids look at and wonder who that is. 

I enjoy seeing my children enjoy the farm.  They live in such a different environment, and I love that they can experience something new.  Susan always whines about ticks, but she brought some spray and didn't really whine as much about the ticks this year.  Then while I was sitting and talking to Aunt Lorene she spotted a tick crawling across the black tarp we were sitting on.  She actually picked up the tick on the end of her finger to show Darcy and Gabby.  I would never do that in a million years, and I'm now thinking that Susan isn't such the girlie-girlie chick she pretends to all of us.  I mean I've seen that woman change oil in a lawn mower and now pick up a tick.  She is my heroine, and I look at her through different eyes." 

On the road to our reunion

12:15 PM - We left Susan's house in the SUV, the one with 140,000 miles on it.  The three girls sat in the back seat playing electronics.  Susan drove.  I rode shot-gun.  Susan had a tomtom and she hooked it all up and stuck it to the front of the windshield.  It didn't turn on, but we convinced her it was because it needed to charge some.  She was sort of worrying about getting lost, but I reminded her that I had the IPhone.  The trip would be about 5 hours with a stop for lunch.

12:20 PM - Susan stopped for cash at the ATM at her bank.  She stopped again and got her prescription at CVS.  She passed the turn for the gas station so she had to do a U-turn.  She pulled in and started pumping the gas while I went into the station and used the restroom.  I bought some chips, a soda, a pack of bottlecaps, and some gum. 

1:48 PM - We stopped for lunch at the Apple Dumplin' Inn, a place that Susan has passed on her many trips to Evansville, but no one has ever stopped and eaten with her.  I told her it sounded good, and we looked it up and found it.  When we pulled into the parking lot Madison and I recognized the place because we had eaten there several years ago.

The place has an orchard, a petting barn full of animals, a restaurant, a country store, and a Christmas store.  We ate good country cooking first and then went to the barn to pet the animals.  I went into the barn first while the others were horsing around in the car.  I talked to the goats and the minature horses, and then I turned the corner and saw this sight:

This was Toby and he didn't move one inch when I approached.  He just sat looking at the bunnies with his tongue hanging out.  It was hilarious.  Eventually the owner came in looking for Toby, and he explained that someone had been in the barn the week before and he had opened the cage and taken out a baby bunny.  The man had then dropped the poor bunny, and Toby had ended up with an afternoon snack and had been sitting there every day since then.  The poor bunnies were shaking and shaking, and suddenly I didn't find it hilarious anymore.

3:36 PM - We were back on the road again after shopping and eating.  I bought some apple butter, some triple berry award winning jelly, and some flavored honeystixs.  The tomtom was still not working, and Susan discovered that the silver piece in the carlighter end was missing.  Ooops.  No tomtom.

5:00 PM - A man passing us in traffic mouthed to Susan that her brake lights were out.  I was on the phone with Kelly so I missed it, but Susan panicked.  Funny thing was as the man passed us and got in front of us we saw that his left brake light was also out.  ,We pulled over at a McDonald's, and I hopped out to check on things.  Sure enough the right brake light was out.  The girls all went into the fast food joint to use the facilities.  They were in there forever, and Susan had thought up all sorts of kidnapping possiblities.  She finally went inside to get them, but they weren't in the bathroom, and she about had a heart attack.  They were standing in line checking out the menu.

6:00 PM - We all got excited upon seeing the sign to our exit.  The car was shooting out some warm air conditioning, and we were an hour over our prediction of 5 hours.  As soon as we passed the sign we came to a complete stop.  Interstate 70 was down to one lane of traffic and was totally stopped for some reason that we could not see.  People were getting out of their cars and hiking up trying to see something.  We never figured it out.  We moved about a car length every 15 minutes.  Eventually we could see our exit.

Unfortunately we could not pass the two trucks in front of us.  We sat there for about 50 minutes before we reached the exit and merged, cheering at the top of our lungs.

7:00 PM - Pulled into the parking lot of our hotel and collapsed.  We had arrived.

The house that built me

I use to go home every year when my parents still lived in the house I grew up in.  After it was sold out from under me I still tried to get to Indiana even if I didn't get back to Evansville, the city I grew up in.  Eventually just getting to Indiana was enough.  There is just something about the midwest that calls to me.  In the summer, of course, as it doesn't call at all to me in the winter months.

I didn't get to Indiana last year because of my illness.  For some reason a year without Indiana was too much.  Then I heard Miranda Lambert sing, The House That Built Me, and I knew I needed to get home.  The lyrics in that song seemed to sum upthings I was feeling, but couldn't define.

You leave home, you move on,

You do the best you can.

I got lost in this whole world,

And forgot who I am.

It has been a tough year.  I've faced truths I hadn't wanted to see.  I've juggled motherhood and healthcare.  I've gone from anger to guilt and back again to anger.  I've had to come to terms with my mother's aging and her failing health.  I've watched my eldest daughter graduate middle school and take the next steps; steps I know will go quickly into a run that will lead to her eventually leaving.  I've thought more about the future and what it holds for me and where my place will be in it.  I've had days of deep depression where I haven't wanted to fight my way through it.  And I've wondered what happened to that person that was once me.

I thought if I could touch this place or feel it,

This brokenness inside me might start healing.

Out here it's like I'm someone else,

I thought that maybe I could find myself.

I can't go back to what was once my home.  I just can't do it, and in wondering why the loss of that house caused me so much regret and sorrow, not to metnion all the nightly dreams, I realized that it was more about who I was, who I could still be, when I was there.  It didn't matter that I no longer lived there, that my home was now with the family I had created, it was still the place I could retreat to to meditate, to recharge my batteries and get back to that person that deep down inside I still knew was there.

I know they say you can't go home again

I just had to come back one last time

Ma'am, I know you don't know me from Adam

But these handprints on the front steps are mine

Someone else now lives in my old home.  I can't go there again, but I can go to Indiana.  It is where I grew up and where I became the woman and person that I am today.  I have a farm there.  I have family there.  I have me there, and every once in a while I plan to visit to reconnect with all of that.

If I could walk around, I swear I'll leave

Won't take nothing but a memory

From the house that built me.

Email laugh

From my neighbor, Howard:

A woman was sipping on a glass of wine, while sitting on the patio with her husband, and she said, "I love you so much.  I don't know how I could ever live without you."

Her husband asked, "Is that you, or the wine talking?"

She replied, "It's me ............... talking to the wine."

Kelly is so much older than I am

Happy Birthday to my (our) dearest friend, Kelly, who is way older today.  Kelly moved to Florida five months after Darcy was born, and I tell her all the time that she saved my life.  I might have had to take medication if it weren't for Kelly.  We met in the second grade when I moved to Indiana.  She and another classmate were assigned the task of showing me around the elementary school.  Our mothers became friends and, despite the fact that I had moved into her best friend's home, she accepted me into her circle of friends.  We lost contact through the years, but somehow managed to reconnect, and eventually we talked her into moving to Florida.

Kelly is a part of our family, whether she wants it or not.  My mother worries about her as she does her daughter.  My children love her like they do their mother.  My husband counts her as one of his wives.  My niece thinks she is her aunt.  My brother cares for her like he cares for anybody, and my sister-in-law loves her like a sister-in-law.  And me?  I just count on her for everything I can't do, for when I need someone to listen, for when I need a cook, for when I'm bored, for when I need someone to pick up my kids, for when I need someone to vacation with, for when I need a proof reader, for when I need pretty much anything.  And she is always there.

We could not live without her.  Happy, happy day to you, Kelly!

Connie Foot Photo #25

 The appointment this week was for an apligraf, which Connie has had before.  For those keeping track, she had the apligraf sewn on by the Foot God back in March.  You can read about it here.  This visit the apligraf was being shared with Connie by a guy who happened to be a patient of another doctor so Connie as attended to by this doctor, Dr. G.L.  The Foot God is not there on Tuesdays or Thursdays.

It had been a long day before we even reached the office.  Connie had an early morning dermatology appointment where I got to watch two lesions get sliced off and sent for biopsies.  After that we did the weekly grocery shopping, unloaded, had some lunch, and then got back into the car to head to the foot appointment.

Each doctor in this office has his own staff so the Foot God's staff was not there.  Dr. G.L.'s staff had several male nurses, and our nurse for the appointment was Nurse Robert.  He was a good looking, caring, and very helpful young man.  He took us into a room with a window from where we could watch the thunderstorm rolling in.

Nurse Robert took off the bandages and left a moist dressing around the foot so that it wasn't exposed to the elements why Connie waited for Dr. G.L.  Hmmm...the Foot God's staff never does this.  Connie had seen Dr. G. L. once before, but I had never met him.  Connie had reported that he was quite handsome, something I had seen for myself from the portraits each doctor has hung on the wall in the entrance to the waiting room.  She also said he had a personality.  I was interested in meeting him.

As we waited the skies outside our windows were getting darker.  Thunder started rumbling, and I saw a few cracks of lightning.  It had been sprinkling as we left for the doctor's office, and we were well equipped with umbrellas.  We chatted some.  Nurse Robert popped in to make sure we were all well.  I caught a glimpse of Dr. G.L. as he stood outside in the hallway chatting with his staff.  Quite a good looking guy.  He too popped in to pat Connie on the leg and assure her he was coming soon to take care of her.

Suddenly the sky began making a lot of noise, and the lights in the office flickered off and then on and then off again.  They were on a good ten seconds and then the sequence repeated itself:  off, on, and off for good.  The staff began running up and down the dark hallway.  We were fine in our room as we had the window, but across the hall where there are no windows it was pitch black.

So patients had to be moved, and it was a while before Dr. G.L. made it into our room.  When he did he came with an entourage.  There was Nurse Robert, a red headed nurse who is always here in the office, and the Apligraf Girl.  They gathered around the back of him in a semi circle.  He sat down and introduced himself and told Connie he was going to be applying the apligraf.

Me:  Are you as good as the Foot God?
Dr. G.L.:  I aspire to be.
Connie:  Well, he's been working on me since September so you can't do any worse.  Or can you?
Dr. G.L.:  I am going to do my best work on you right here in the dark.  Which foot is it?  I can't see all that well, but don't worry I'm going to apply it by touch.

Whoa!  A sense of humor?  We didn't laugh at first.  We must have been in shock, but his staff laughed and then Madison laughed, and then Connie and I joined in.  Actually we joined in with more humor and pretty soon more staff was poking their heads in the door to see what fun was being had in the semi-dark room.

Dr. G.L. worked quickly and efficiently with his staff observing (as much as they could in the dark).  He took out the apligraf with tweezers and gently applied it to the wound.  I said that the Foot God had sewn it on last time, but Dr. G.L. said he would be applying steri strips.  He did this quickly and efficiently, and then HE PUT ON THE DRESSING HIMSELF.

Connie:  What?  You put the dressing on  yourself?
Dr. G.L.:  Why?  The Foot God doesn't do this?
Connie:  Heavens no!  He is too good to do the dressing.  He has his people do it.
Dr. G.L.:  I don't trust my people with this delicate operation.
People:  What?  Hey!
Dr. G.L.:  No, I'm kidding.  I'm also efficient.

He put on a different dressing, one that sticks and stretches around the foot.  All around he was quite impressive.  He left with instructions not to touch the foot for a week.  The red headed nurse put Connie's boot on and then wrapped her leg and foot in a large, black plastic trash bag so that it wouldn't get wet in the rain.

Darcy and I headed out the back door where the car was parked.  We had umbrellas, and we went down the sidewalk and straight into a lake.  The entire path in the parking lot that led to our car was underwater, and I mean UNDERWATER.  I was already in the lake over my ankles before it registered in my brain.  It was even deeper then this:

I was wearing tennis shoes.  Darcy was wearing flip flops.  We were both soaking wet by the time we got into the car.  We yelled at Madison who was peeking her head out the back door, and told her she would have to bring Connie out the front door.  We drove around and Nurse Robert came out wheeling Connie, umbrella over her head.  He put her in the car, and then offered to put the wheelchair in the back of the car.  Whoa!  Nurse Kelly has never offered even to wheel Connie out the door.  Nurse Robert got everyone tucked in the car and waved good-bye.

Forget the T-shirt slip.  The Foot God and his staff have a lot to live up to now. 

An end of something grand

Besides sun, warmth, sand and Disney World, one of the greatest things about living in Florida is the chance to see the space shuttle orbiting toward space.  Before I moved here I had visited the Kennedy Space Center three times.  I had taken the tourist bus, back when they did that sort of thing, out to the launchpad and had seen a space shuttle on the pad.  My mother is a big space nut, and she always had us watching the shuttle leave the earth.  So when I moved to Florida it was a joy to be able to be even closer to something I grew up with, but only viewed from afar.

It was long before I learned to turn on the TV for the launch and then run outside so that I could see the shuttle as it passed over our area on its way into space.  It wasn't always visible, and I wasn't always looking in the right direction (being a little challenged in that area), but I've seen the shuttle plenty of times as it passed over my neighborhood.  I soon was one of those Floridians who was nonchalant when the boom hit and tourists scattered, their mouths in "o" formations, some of them thinking an earthquake was happening as items on shelves teetered.  "Oh, that," I would say.  "That's the space shuttle coming home."

In June 2002 we were in Disney World for one of Tom's conventions.  It happened to be when the Endeavor was launching.  I was in my hotel room with the girls, and Tom called to tell us it was about to happen.  We went outside on our balcony.  Everyone was outside, but the people in my area all happened to be from foreign countries.  I think the room next to us was from France, and several along the balcony were Canadian.  I had the TV on in my room, the door propped open, and I kept going back and forth, back and forth, as the countdown began.  I had seen the shuttle from my own house, a small, alien thing flying toward space, and so I didn't really expect anything different, despite my closer proximity.  I was wrong.

We stood outside and listened to the launch.  Somewhere America the Beautiful  was playing in the background, and then, suddenly there she was; Endeavor, so close that I could read all the wording on its side.  I saw United States, Endeavor, and all the flags that decorated it.  It was so close that I felt like I could reach out and touch it.  I could see it and the rockets.  It rolled, and we watched as it went higher and higher and higher into the sky.  Everyone was breathless as it roared past and the sound was amazingly loud.  It disappeared into the clouds and everyone began talking at once, in another language.  I stood on the balcony, tears streaming down my cheeks, and the woman next to me said in English, "That was the most amazing thing I've ever seen.  That was extraordinary.  You must be so proud."  And I said, "I am very proud to be an American at this moment."

Today I watched Atlantis blast into the skies, the end of the space shuttle program.  I should have driven over there.  I never did, in all the years I lived in Florida, and of course, now I'm regretting it.  We always think things will last longer than they do.  I made my kids watched.  I reminded my mother it was happening.  Unfortunately, on our side of the coast it was pouring down rain, and the sky was full of clouds so that seeing it pass over my driveway was not in the cards.  I watched it instead standing in front of the TV with tears streaming down my cheeks. 

And once again I felt so blessed and so proud to be an American.  Be safe on your journey Atlantis.  Come home safe.